New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

As Lü Bu gazed at Dong Zhuo's fallen corpse, a hint of unspeakable struggle flickered in his eyes.

He turned around, his voice hoarse: "Father, the Prime Minister's last words before his death..."

"What are you afraid of?" Wang Yun waved his hand dismissively, a hint of impatience and a cold smile appearing on his old face, which had just been filled with ecstasy.

His gaze passed over Lü Bu and landed on Dong Zhuo's mangled corpse, as if he were looking at a pile of useless trash.

"Dong Zhuo is already a dead man. The words of a dead man don't count."

Their secret plot was bound to be overheard. Before he finished speaking, Chen Gong casually emerged from some unknown corner.

He was still toying with the shiny cricket jar in his hand, a calm smile on his face, and he said loudly:

"My lord, you are too hasty. We should lure them to the sacrificial altar before taking action. That would be justified and more effective."

Wang Yun was taken aback, then raised his hand and patted his white-haired head, bursting into laughter:

"Indeed! Chen Gongtai, thanks to you for reminding me, I've truly been dead for too long and been so outdated!"

He was laughing, but his face suddenly darkened.

Wait a minute? Chen Gong?

He turned his head, stared at Chen Gong's face with a faint smile, and said coldly:

"Chen Gong! Isn't your plan far too dangerous? Do you know that I was almost blasted to dust by Dong Zhuo's energy ball just now!"

Chen Gong, however, calmly lifted the lid of the cricket jar, looked down at the small insect inside that was gently twitching its antennae, smiled slightly, and said casually:

"My lord, do not worry. Everything is under my control."

Wang Yun snorted coldly, but did not pursue the matter further.

He had to admit that the current favorable situation was thanks to this man. Moreover, Chen Gong was unfathomable; even if Wang Yun really wanted to kill him, he probably couldn't keep him alive.

Wang Yun whispered the instructions to Lü Bu. After listening, Lü Bu remained silent for a long time before finally sighing and activating the strange power within him to relay Wang Yun's message to the entire square.

That booming voice echoed between the palace walls, drowning out all the clamor:

"Distinguished officials, esteemed citizens! Dong Zhuo is dead! Please follow Minister Wang to the Altar of Heaven to celebrate the victory over Dong Zhuo!"

"From this day forward, peace will reign throughout the land, and there will be no more wars. Congratulations to the people, you can now live in peace and prosperity!"

A deafening roar of cheers erupted in the square. Everyone's face was filled with the ecstasy of surviving a disaster and the hope for the future.

"Long live Minister Wang! Minister Wang led us to defeat the traitor Dong Zhuo!"

Wang Yun chuckled, a perfectly measured humility appearing on his aged face.

He turned around and, amidst waves of cheers, led tens of thousands of people and officials in a grand procession toward the altar of Heaven.

When everyone arrived at the altar and surrounded the high platform, Wang Yun could no longer contain himself.

He turned around, staring directly at Lü Bu, his eyes filled with impatient fervor: "Fengxian, it's time to make our move!"

Chen Gong nodded slightly, taking over the conversation, his voice calm and firm:

"Fengxian, no need to worry, do it. Dong Zhuo is dead. From now on, Diaochan is yours alone. Your lord has fulfilled your wish, and you should fulfill his wish in return."

Lü Bu took a deep breath. Looking at the cheering crowds and officials below, oblivious to their impending doom, a final thought flashed through his mind:

How will people talk about Lü Bu after this day?

Chen Gong seemed to read his mind, tucked the cricket jar into his sleeve, and laughed loudly:

"Fengxian, history is always written by the victors. As long as you eliminate all traces and leave no survivors, no one will ever know what happened here today."

"At that time, you will still be the great hero who killed Dong Zhuo, and you can still live a life of honor and grow old together with Diao Chan."

After hearing these words, Lü Bu finally stopped hesitating. He turned around, plunged his halberd into the stone slab beneath his feet, formed hand seals, and slowly activated the powerful and strange force within his body.

A pale golden protective shield slowly expanded from him, enveloping himself, Wang Yun, and Chen Gong.

The officials nearby, seeing their unusual behavior, all stopped in their tracks, their faces showing confusion and unease.

Someone shouted at the top of their lungs:

"What was Fengxian's role?"

"Lord Situ, what are you doing?"

Wang Yun stood inside the protective shield, looking at his bewildered colleagues and civilians outside, a sinister smile slowly spreading across his face:

"A dying man needs no knowledge of these things. Fengxian, do it!"

The officials then seemed to wake from a dream, their confusion instantly turning into extreme fear.

They screamed and rushed toward the protective shield, desperately trying to squeeze into the thin layer of light.

But it was too late. Suddenly, countless golden arrows shot out from the protective shield, surging out in all directions from Lü Bu as the center.

He was like a hedgehog that had exploded, and golden arrows rained down like a storm. Wherever they passed, whether it was an old minister with white hair or a woman holding a child, they were all riddled with holes by the dense rain of arrows.

Screams, wails, and the whistling of arrows mingled together, turning the sacrificial altar into a crimson inferno.

When everything finally calmed down, the area outside the protective shield was littered with corpses.

Crimson blood soaked through the stone slabs of the altar, slowly seeping into the ground through the cracks. There was no longer a single normal person on the altar.

The protective shield slowly dissipated. Wang Yun stepped out of the shield, gazing at the blood-red ocean and the mountains of corpses before him, a smile of almost chilling satisfaction spreading across his face.

He nodded, his voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement: "Great! Great! So many people, that's enough, that's more than enough!"

Lu Bu frowned deeply as he gazed at the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood he had created with his own hands.

He turned his head, staring at Wang Yun and Chen Gong, his voice filled with long-suppressed confusion:

"Godfather, Mr. Chen, you never told me what you were planning before. You only said that I would know when the time came. Now that the time has come, shouldn't you tell me?"

Wang Yun threw his head back and laughed loudly, stroking the few strands of white beard under his chin, his eyes surging with an almost manic light:

"Fengxian! What I'm about to do is something extremely extraordinary! Dong Zhuo relies on that little girl Diaochan to prolong his life."

"And I, Wang Yun, will today exchange the lives of these tens of thousands of people for my eternal life!"

He paused, then his voice suddenly rose, his eyes flashing with an even more fervent madness, "Not just me! I also want my lover, Empress Dowager He, to regain her youth of twenty!"

Lu Bu's pupils shrank sharply, and he froze on the spot.

Immortality? Wang Yun's wife? Empress Dowager He? What are you talking about?! Are you even speaking human language? I don't understand a word you're saying!

He opened his mouth, about to speak, but Chen Gong turned to the side and smiled slightly:

"Fengxian, there's no need to plead for these dead people. If Wang Situ's immortality technique truly succeeds, he will naturally grant you and me the blessing of eternal life in the future."

"As for Miss Diaochan, she will naturally also be granted immortality. At that time, the two of you will be able to live for all eternity, never to be separated again."

Lü Bu was stunned. Chen Gong's words left him speechless.

He abandoned his idea of ​​dissuading Wang Yun and turned his gaze back to Wang Yun, his eyes no longer filled with doubt, but only with burning expectation.

Wang Yun nodded, stopped looking at Lü Bu, and turned to walk towards the center of the sacrificial altar.

He stopped before an ancient totem, tilted his head back, and opened his arms. His aged voice echoed amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, as if offering the most devout sacrifice to some unseen being.

"Your Majesty the First Emperor of the Dark Abyss, the former emperors of all dynasties, the incomparably brave and peerless Overlord! I, Wang Yun, today offer the lives of tens of thousands of people as a sacrifice, and beg you, my lords, to grant me the way to eternal life!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the corpses scattered all over the ground began to slowly sink into the earth.

The blood that had soaked into the stone slabs seemed to come alive, flowing rapidly along the cracks in the floor tiles and converging towards the totem at the very center of the altar.

A scarlet blood sphere slowly rose from the ground and hovered in mid-air.

As more and more corpses sank into the ground, the blood sphere swelled larger and larger, accompanied by a sudden gust of wind and flashes of lightning.

Chen Gong stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the blood sphere that was expanding wildly in mid-air, and recited with deep emotion:

"A favorable wind! The wind follows the tiger, the clouds follow the dragon, and the heroes of dragon and tiger soar proudly across the heavens!"

Wang Yun's Taoist robe fluttered wildly in the strong wind, and his white hair flew wildly in the wind.

He stood there beneath the blood sphere, head tilted back, arms outstretched, a bizarre, almost manic smile on his face.

Bathed in that crimson light, he looked like a heretic who had crawled out of hell.

When the blood sphere expanded to its limit and could no longer absorb any more blood, tiny bubbles of crimson liquid rolled out from its surface.

It's saturated. Wang Yun understood.

He slowly walked to the bottom of the blood sphere, tilted his head back, and opened his mouth. The enormous blood sphere suddenly exploded, and a scarlet waterfall cascaded down from the sky, drenching him completely.

Wang Yun relished it, swallowing large gulps of the thick, scarlet liquid with an almost perverse satisfaction on his face, while a strange, hoarse laugh escaped his throat.

When the blood rain finally stopped, nearly half of the crimson liquid in the blood cells had not yet dissipated.

Wang Yun was covered in blood, his body gleaming with the blinding blood light of his arrogant soldier form, but his appearance had been completely transformed.

The wrinkled old face disappeared, replaced by the face of a twenty-year-old youth. He had fair skin, a robust build, and a face that was even more handsome than Lü Bu's.

Wang Yun looked down at his hands, which had regained their youth, and chuckled.

He channeled the strange power within his body and pointed towards the direction of Zhengyang Palace.

The next moment, a crystal ice coffin burst out of the palace roof, passed through the blood mist, and landed steadily on the sacrificial altar.

Looking at the ice coffin, Wang Yun could no longer contain his elation and threw his head back, laughing wildly:

"Let's recapture our youth, my love!"

The remaining crimson liquid in the blood sphere poured down like a waterfall, drenching the crystal ice coffin.

The old woman in the coffin, whose face was originally full of wrinkles and whose hair was white, had her wrinkles smoothed out layer by layer under the soaking of the scarlet liquid, and her withered skin regained its elasticity and luster inch by inch.

As the last drop of crimson liquid seeped into the coffin, a young girl slowly opened her eyes inside the crystal ice coffin.

She sat up blankly, staring at the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood before her, her gaze finally settling on Wang Yun.

She was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise, "Zishi? Where is this? What are you doing here?"

Wang Yun's eyes were filled with unconcealed joy and excitement. Just as he was about to explain, a pitch-black vortex suddenly appeared in the sky.

A voice he knew all too well crashed down from the vortex: "Wang Yun! I knew you wouldn't treat these people well! That's why I already had a backup plan!"

Wang Yun's heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition gripped his heart instantly.

The next moment, a bolt of jet-black lightning struck down from the vortex, tearing through the sky and striking directly at the girl in the crystal ice coffin who had just regained her youth.

Wang Yun was terrified and cried out, "No!"

But it was too late. The lightning struck Empress Dowager He precisely, blasting her and the crystal ice coffin into a cloud of scarlet blood mist.

Wang Yun stared blankly at the empty space in front of him.

His beloved, the one he had spent his entire life and sacrificed tens of thousands of lives to win back, was blasted to smithereens right before his eyes, leaving not even ashes.

A surge of overwhelming rage and despair welled up from the depths of his chest. He threw his head back and let out a near-collapsed roar: "You traitor Dong Zhuo! I hate you!"

Dong Zhuo's voice continued to come from the vortex in the sky:

"Wang Yun, you defy the will of Heaven, slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent people. Your crimes are heinous! I curse you, that you will one day fall to your death because of the saying 'a victorious army is arrogant, and an arrogant army is bound to be defeated'!"

Wang Yun trembled with rage, pointing at the sky and roaring, "Dong Zhuo! I will slaughter your entire family! I will exterminate your nine generations!"

Dong Zhuo's last laugh drifted slowly down from the sky, as if carried by the wind from a great distance: "Wang Yun, you defy the heavens, you are destined to be alone for life!"

From then on, his voice gradually faded away, and the black vortex slowly dissipated, eventually returning to complete silence.

The sky returned to calm, as if nothing had ever happened.

Wang Yun was left standing alone amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, staring at the lingering blood mist beside him, remaining silent for a long time.

(Only two chapters left until the end of Volume One. The author has already conceived the plot regarding Liu Bei's side, which seems quite terrifying and suspenseful. Gentlemen, you can look forward to it.)

(Also, the author plans to start a live stream on the same platform as Zhebangye to promote the series. Everyone is welcome to come and supervise the author's writing, and the author will also answer your questions.)

(The name is the same as the author's, and it will probably open tonight. The author needs to do some research.)

(I won't say too much, nor will I ramble on. Tomorrow I'll be up at 5 AM, and I'll try to do it every day from now on!)